Thalapathi - Box Office Collection

Thalapathi remains a classic in Rajinikanth’s career and is one of his most critically acclaimed films. The film marked the beginning of Rajinikanth’s domination of Kollywood in the 1990s. The film created unprecedented buzz in Kollywood as it was the first time Rajini came together with the most sought-after director in the south - Mani Ratnam.

Thalapathi ran for 100 days in 3 centers in Madras City. It went on to complete 175 days in 1 centre in Madras. It was the highest grossing film in Madras City at the time. It ran for 165 days in Madurai and 150 days in Kovai.

Rajini and Mani Ratnam’s movie ran well in other neighboring states as well. It ran for 100 days in Kerala, Bombay, and Bangalore. Thalapathi had a dream run in Kerala and helped Rajini establish a bigger market in the state. Thalapathi ran well in Karnataka for 3 weeks but Kaveri water disputes interrupted its run and resulted the distributor of Thalapathi in Karnataka to incur loss.

Thalapathi was a sensation in the overseas market doing fantastic business in core Tamil markets. It expanded the overseas market to Europe, Canada, and the Middle East. Rajini's film revived Kollywood's damaged overseas market that crashed during the 80s. It had a 66-day run in Malaysia. It also grossed a huge £80K in the UK (USD$140K). The film was estimated to have grossed USD$749K in the overseas market.

Thalapathi finished its run as a “Super Hit” at the box office grossing well in urban centres and decent in B&C centres. It was not able to edge out Chinna Thambi in Tamil Nadu but it had a great lead outside of Tamil Nadu.